Hours after being talked down from a highway overpass from which he wanted to jump, a suicidal man returned and made the leap.
Boontieng Saokaew, 45, didn’t die in the Nov. 20 jump from the pedestrian crossing over Sukhumvit Road near Central Road. A 70-year-old foreign ex-pat grabbed him at the last moment and slowed his fall into a grassy area.
Boontieng suffered bruises in the fall and was sent to Banglamung Hospital where he also can receive mental care as well.
The man, driven to suicide by a disfiguring skin condition that has left him jobless and ostracized in society, was stopped from jumping that morning by Banglamung police officers who talked him down from the overpass.
But rather than commit him to a psychological ward for his own protection, they let him go. He returned to the same overpass that afternoon.
David Baxter, 70, saw Boontieng readying to jump. The ex-pat grabbed his shirt, but it ripped. He also grabbed the Thai man’s hand and swung him to a grassy area.
